The Associated Press reported that police said the suspect, identified as 37-year-old Marc Lamparello, has been arrested at a New Jersey cathedral a few days before his Wednesday arrest in New York. Police said Lamparello had booked a flight to Italy before he was arrested in connection to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Lamparello is still in police custody, police said.

Original report: A 37-year-old New Jersey man is in police custody after authorities said he tried to bring gas cans, lighters and lighter fluid into New York's iconic St. Patrick's Cathedral on Wednesday night.

UPDATE: Around 7:55pm, a man walked into St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan with gas cans and lighter fluid, and was subsequently apprehended by @NYPDCT without incident. We thank our partners for their help, and remember - if you see something, say something. pic.twitter.com/bJDXrR6e8q

According to WNBC-TV, the man parked on Fifth Avenue and walked around before retrieving two 2-gallon gasoline cans, two extended butane lighters and two bottles of lighter fluid from his vehicle at 7:55 p.m., New York police told reporters late Wednesday. He then attempted to bring the items into the church, where a cathedral security officer confronted him and notified police, authorities said.

"The individual was stopped as he tried to come into the cathedral," the Archdiocese of New York said in a statement to WCBS-TV. "[He] was turned over to the police. Nothing happened inside the cathedral."